What Makes a Family
by agdoll95
Summary: (gender-bender) Samantha Witwicky was raised by Autobots from when she was a little girl after her parents were killed by Decepticons. Now they're back and looking for her. Can they keep her safe and put an end to the war that threatens their lives and the fate of Earth itself?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Eight year old Samantha Witwicky sat staring out the window of the back seat of her parents' car. She was very excited to get to her Nana's house, but still very much confused when they told her that Nana wouldn't be there because she had gone to heaven.

"Mommy, why can't we go see Nana if she's in heaven?" Sam finally spoke up.

"Well sweet heart, heaven is a place where all people go someday, but we can't go there because it is very far away." Her mother Judy Witwicky answered

"Will we still be able to go see Nana soon?"

"Yes, someday. But for now, we're going to Nana's and clean up her house so she can have a clean home when she comes back."

"Okay. Will I still get to play in my room?"

"Sure. Just make sure you stay out of the way and don't get into trouble or anything your Nana wouldn't want you getting into." Her father Ronald Witwicky answered from the driver's seat.

After what seemed like another hour, they finally pulled up to the familiar drive way and Sam raced up stairs to her room. Looking around she saw that everything was still a mess and that it really needed to be cleaned up. She looked over and saw her favorite stuffed dog Fraline on her bed. She grabbed Fraline and hugged her as tight as she could.

"I missed you Fraline. Nana took care of you though right?" Imagining that she heard an answer, Sam went on talking. "Good. Now I need to clean up my room, you just wait here and when I'm done we can play." She said setting Fraline back on the bed and went about getting her room back in order.

She went about picking up all her toys and putting them in the toy box, cleaning up all the crayons she and her Nana had brought out the last time she came to visit and placing them back in their boxes and then picking up the coloring books and putting all the games back together and up on the shelf and then moved to the closet and put her clothes in the drawers and hung up her clothes that she couldn't fit in the drawers. She then moved to her bed and set the blankets straight and finally sat down and hugged Fraline and then went on to talk to the doll as she always had.

Her girl to doll conversation was interrupted when she heard an engine roar outside down stairs. She looked outside and saw the same big black and yellow car she had been seeing around her home for the past few weeks. She was nervous about it and told her parents about it but they had told her before that it was nothing to worry about and to not talk to whoever was inside because she was not to talk to strangers. She hugged Fraline even tighter and could feel herself shaking.

"Fraline, who do you think that is?" she asked the doll.

Imagining an answer she replied, "You're right, if Mommy and Daddy aren't worried, then we shouldn't be either. Why don't we go exploring the house?"

Sam grabbed her kiddie backpack and then went about the house exploring all the rooms she had never been in before. Her Nana had told her before that there were some places in the house that she could go in, but that there were some places that she couldn't because they were not safe. Sam found it hard to believe because every room she went in, there were new 'toys' and things to 'play' with. After going about the entire house for a good thirty minutes or so, Sam was going through the halls again when she saw a ladder coming from the ceiling.

Shoving Fraline into her backpack, she climbed up the steps and found her parents going through some old boxes.

"What are you looking at?" Sam asked sitting next to her mother.

"We're just going through some of Nana's old things. We're just trying to decide what we should sell and what we can keep." Judy explained looking at some old photos.

Sam looked in the box her father was going through and saw the name Archibald Witwicky written on the side. Recognizing the name as her grandfather's she looked up at her father.

"Was this Papa's box, Daddy?"

"No sweetie."

"But it has his name on it." Sam asked confused.

"Your Papa was named after his grandfather, your great-great-grandfather. His name was Archibald too. He was an explorer." Her father explained laying some of the stuff to the side.

"Like me?" Sam said picking up a telescope too big for her to hold up to her eye.

"Sort of." Ron giggled taking the telescope from her and setting down. "Your great-great-grandfather was one of the first men to explore the Arctic Circle." Ron continued to explain showing Sam a picture of her grandfather with all his crew mates and their ship just behind them. "When he came home, he was very sick and ended up spending the rest of his life in the hospital, but he left all his stuff to his family and it has been passed down from his son to your grandfather and now to us. And right now, your mother and I are going through some it to decide what we can keep and what we are going to sell to the museum."

"Can I look too?" Sam asked looking up at her father with her bright blue eyes shining in that adorable way that she knew her father couldn't resist.

"Oh, alright, but be careful, this stuff is very old." Ron said giving in.

Sam went through and found some stuff she thought that she could keep as explorer stuff for her adventures back home. They included a tube that her father called a quadrant, a sextant, a compass, and then a pair of glasses that Ron said was the pair that Archibald had worn on all of his adventures. Sam anxiously put all this in her backpack and asked if she could keep it.

Ron looked at his wife who gave him the 'she'll out grow them eventually' look and he gave her permission to keep them.

"Now sweetheart I want you to go downstairs and play. Your mother and I have some sorting to do up here. We'll be down when it's time to go." Ron said

"But Daddy," Sam tried to protest.

"Your father's right Sam. We'll be down soon. Besides, we'll be back here tomorrow, there's a lot more stuff we need to go through and we'll have to go through the rest tomorrow. So don't worry, you'll find more explorer stuff later." Judy said guiding her daughter to the stairs.

"Okay." Sam said heading back down toward her room.

She set her bag full of explorer stuff on the bed and sat down with Fraline to read one of the books she had loved to read with her Nana. After reading all her books and filling up her coloring books with colors, another few hours had passed and she saw it was getting dark out and she was starting to feel tired. So she laid down on the bed and hugged Fraline close and fell asleep.

A short while later, she felt some one shaking her awake. "Sammy, come on sweetheart, we're leaving now." She could hear her mother whispering through her groggy haze.

"I'm tired Mommy." She groaned.

"I know. Here, I'll carry you." Judy said scooping up the tired little eight year old and carried her and the dog and backpack down stairs to the car.

She strapped Sam in the back seat and got in the car and Ron started the long drive back to their house a few hours away. Sam started to fall asleep again when she felt the car jolt and heard a loud bang come from the back of the car. Her head flew forward and hit the passenger side seat.

"Oww!" She whined rubbing her head. "What happened?"

"Sammy stay down." Judy said facing her daughter with panic in her voice.

"Mommy what's going on?" Sam asked starting to feel scared.

"Just listen to your mother, and hang on." Ron said speeding up the car and driving off the interstate to an open road with little to no traffic.

Sam could hear another car close behind but dare not lift up her head to see what was chasing them. All she could do was keep her head down and softly cry into her knees as her parents kept softly talking and trying to lose their pursuers. After what seemed like forever, Ron pulled off the road and into the woods where the one chasing them couldn't follow. Buying them some time, he stopped the car and told Judy and Sam to get out. Judy got Sam out of the backseat and held her tight.

"Now, Judy I want you to take Sam and I want you to run. You don't stop, you don't hide, you run, do you understand?"

"What about you Daddy?" Sam asked with fear and tears in her eyes.

"I'm going to lead them away so you and Mommy can get away."

"No, Daddy, no,"

"Listen to your father."

"Daddy I want you to come too."

"This isn't up for discussion Samantha. You're my daughter and you are going to go with your mother and you're going to run. I'll come and find you when I can when it's safe."

"Daddy," Sam pleaded as her father sped off and her mother turned and ran deeper into the woods.

Sam buried her face into her mother's shoulder as she and Judy went farther and farther in. But soon they started to hear something coming after them. Judy just kept going until they came to a clearing. Seeing nowhere else to go, she spotted a large hollow log and ran for it. She and Sam crawled inside and hoped that whatever was coming wouldn't see them. Judy kept Sam behind her and looked out of the hollow pushing some overhanging moss out of the way just enough she could see but not be seen. Sam peeked around her mother's shoulder and saw a giant metal monster walking through the clear.

Judy turned to Sam and spoke very quietly so as not to be heard from outside. "Now listen Sammy, no matter what happens, you do not leave this log, do you understand? You have to stay here and do not make any noise, just like hide and seek okay? Can you hide real well for Mommy?"

"Don't go Mommy." Sam began to cry.

"I'll be back baby, I'll come back when it's safe." Judy said hugging her daughter close knowing well that this would be the last time she would ever held her. "Sammy, just remember that no matter what happens, your father and I will always love you." Judy said wiping away one of her own tears.

Sam could feel herself shaking as she watched her mother slowly climb out of the log and quietly make her way across the field like she was trying to get away. She pushed some of the moss out of the way and watched as the monster chased her mother and caught her. Sam gasped putting her small hand over her mouth to keep quiet. She was terrified but remembered her promise to hide until her mother came back, but even as young as she was, she knew her mother wasn't going to come back.

Sam could feel her body shaking as she listened to the monster yell at her mother and her mother screaming in fear. Eventually the screams to ones of pain and Sam could see the monster's grip on her mother tightening, he was crushing her. Sam wanted to so badly run out and help her, but what could she do against a monster the size of a house? Soon, the screaming stopped, and the monster dropped her mother's limp body to the ground. Sam ran from the log toward her mother, no longer concerned about hiding, she just wanted to save her mother, but it was too late. Even she knew that her mother was gone, she just wanted to be with her.

The monster turned to her and started toward her. Sam screamed and ran toward the forest as fast as she could. The monster was about to grab her when from out of nowhere a yellow car, the same one Sam had seen lately, sped out of the trees and knocked the monster to the ground and rushed toward her scooping her in and strapping her in the back seat.

Sam kept on screaming and anxiously trying to get out, but the car wasn't slowing down or letting her go. Sam was terrified and kept crying and screaming for her mother and father to come back, to help her. But somewhere inside she knew they weren't coming. Finally the car started to slow down and drove under a bridge on the freeway. It cut its engine and turned off the lights. Sam tried again to get out but the doors were locked. Suddenly the radio started playing and Sam recognized the song as the one her mother sang to her every night before bed. She started to feel tired and slowly began to fall asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Bumblebee sighed in relief when Sam finally fell asleep and quieted down. He was only sorry he hadn't gotten there sooner. He should have been there to save her and her parents, but now her parents were gone and she was all that was left. All he could do now was make sure that the Decepticons didn't get to her too. For now, he had to take her home and inform Optimus Prime about what happened.

Slowly pulling out, he saw that the 'cons were gone, and drove slowly up to the highway and made the trip back to her house. The whole way there, he wondered how he was going to explain this to Optimus. He had been assigned to protect her and her family, but now her family was gone and she was now an orphan. What could he say?

Finally her house came into view and he pulled up into the drive way. Transforming, he gently placed her on her bed in her upstairs bedroom. Opening a long distance communication with Optimus, he informed him of his location and that they had a situation. Bumblebee normally would've gone to patrol the streets to make sure that they weren't followed, but now he was worried to even leave her alone, not after what happened tonight. He parked himself out in the drive way and waited for word from Optimus that he was close. Finally, he heard the sound of a familiar engine and pulled out to meet his leader.

Transforming and trying to stay as quiet as possible, Bumblebee, to the best of his ability with his damaged voice box told Optimus what had happened that night. How Sam's parents had been killed by the Decepticons but he had managed to save her at least and keep the glasses out of their reach.

Optimus seemed upset by the tragedy of Sam losing her parents, but thanked Bumblebee for being able to keep Sam and the location of the All Spark safe. Transforming back into vehicle mode and switching on their holoforms, they went inside to check on the child. Upstairs, they saw Sam still sleeping in her bed where Bumblebee had put her.

"And you're certain she wasn't hurt?" Optimus asked.

Bumblebee shook his head saying she was unharmed. "Good. Now we must decide what we're going to do. We can't let her go now that the Decepticons know of her."

Bumblebee said that they should probably have put her under the protection of the state. But Optimus did not agree. "It is too risky to involve the humans any more than they already are. For now, it would be best if she remained under our watch. Of course there is the matter of her parents. The humans will notice that they are missing." Optimus thought aloud.

Bumblebee asked what they should do, but Optimus said he did not yet have an answer. Bumblebee said he would give him time to think about it and he said he would go out on patrol for a little while to make sure they weren't followed. Optimus nodded as Bumblebee left the room.

As Bumblebee drove through and around the neighborhood throughout the night, he couldn't stop blaming himself for what happened to Sam's parents. In his mind, he knew he wasn't to blame. He wasn't the one who killed her parents, but in his spark, he still felt that there just had to have been something he could have to done to make sure that her parents as well as her were not harmed or even found the Decepticons. His patrol rolled on through the night to sunrise. When he returned to the house, he found Optimus in the family room looking at photographs of Sam and her family. Bumblebee asked what he was thinking.

"The child has no other family who can watch over her, and we can't hand her to human authorities." Optimus said not taking his eyes off the picture of Sam and her parents on the beach together. "I have decided that she will remain under our care and our watch until we can be certain that the Decepticons are defeated. As of last night, Samantha Jane Witwicky has been brought into our circle."

Bumblebee was not too thrilled about Sam being brought into their ranks for fear that she might get hurt, but Optimus was right. There weren't a lot of options open to them right now and in this instance, the best chance they had to keep her safe and to make sure the Decepticons didn't find the All Spark was to keep Sam close. Bumblebee asked where she was and Optimus answered that she was upstairs.

"But there is something else." Optimus told Bumblebee as he turned to go see her. "She seems to have lost all her memories."

Bumblebee was shocked an asked how this could've happened. "It is likely that the trauma of her experience last night caused her to lose touch with herself and in so doing, she lost her own memories as a result."

Bumblebee asked what they were supposed to do now if she had no memories. "For the moment, it would serve as a benefit for us to keep her in the dark as much as possible. We can keep a close eye on her if she believes us to be her family. If her true memories return, then so be it. But for now, we must not tell her who we really are or what really happened to her. Doing so could have severe consequences on her and on us."

Bumblebee nodded saying he understood and that he would do his best. "I need to go out and make sure the humans don't come looking for her with her parents gone. Stay here and keep a close watch on her. If she asks any questions about who you are, just tell her you are a friend and she will be staying us until further notice."

With that, Optimus left and Bumblebee went upstairs to check on Sam who was sitting by her dresser trying to get herself dressed. Bumblebee almost laughed as he watched her try to get her shoes on, but was putting them on the wrong feet. Sam turned to see him when she heard him stifle a chuckle.

"Who are you?" she asked tilting her head.

"I'm friend of your parents." Bee answered as best he could without giving away that his voice was damaged. Using the radio through his holoform was proving to be difficult at best.

Thankfully Sam, didn't ask many more questions about that, other than where her parents were. Bee lied saying that he and another friend had been asked by her parents to watch her last night. That other friend had gone out to run some errands. Sam seemed to buy it and went back to struggling to get her right shoe to go on her left foot. Finally Bee, stepped in and helped put her shoes on the correct feet. He handed Sam her dog-shaped doll and led down stairs to get her breakfast.

As Sam sat at the table, he began to wonder what he should give her. He spotted to box of cereal and poured it in a bowl and added the milk as he had seen her mother do for her each morning. When Sam was done, she tried to go outside but Bumblebee stopped her, saying that she had to stay where he could keep an eye on her. To keep her busy, he turned on the t.v. and set to work trying to clean the house. By the time he was done with the kitchen, Optimus came back.

"How is she?" Optimus asked as he joined Bee in the house.

"She's been behaving, I'm just worried. Sooner or later, she's gonna want to know what happened."

"We'll deal with that when it happens. You're right, she does have the right to know, but for now it's best that she remain out of it."

Bumblebee nodded in agreement as they looked to see Sam still in the family room watching t.v. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. At first glance, Bee could see it was the police. Optimus told him to keep Sam in the living room and to not let her out of his sight.

"I'll handle this." Optimus said opening the door.

Bumblebee stood in the doorway of the living room and listened as the police asked Optimus about Sam.

"Yes, she is the family room. Is everything okay?"

"Well, her parents were involved in a car accident and both were killed in said accident."

Optimus pretended to be shocked at hearing that. "How are we supposed to tell her?"

"I don't know, but for her own safety, we need to ask that you hand her over to CPS." One of the officers said trying to step into the doorway.

"The child is under our watch, we'll keep her safe." Optimus said blocking his progress. "Her parents asked us to watch her."

"And I understand that sir, but unless you are a legalized guardian for the child, she has to be placed under state custody."

"We'll hand her over when we see a warrant." Bee said coming from behind Optimus and slamming the door.

Optimus was ready to scold Bumblebee for that, but Bee said that they would have taken Sam if he hadn't done something.

"In any case, they're going to come back for her. This is not the end of it."

"Well, what do we do now?"

"We need proof of guardianship, and with her parents gone, we're going to have to get creative with this one."

Bumblebee had an idea. He sat done in the kitchen and wrote out note claiming it to be from Sam's father and stating that Sam was now in his and Optimus' care.

"Not a bad idea, but we may need something more legal than that." Optimus said holding the slip of paper in his hands. Optimus sat down by the computer in the family room seeing Sam fixated on the show she was watching and set to work forging a legal document stating that in the event of Mr. & Mrs. Witwicky's death he, Orin Pax, would have guardianship of their child, Samantha Jane Witwicky. The signature from legal was a little more difficult but thankfully, he and Bumblebee were able to pull something together. It seems convincing enough, but he knew that this would by them only so much time.

"This will likely by us enough time to get us and her out of here." Optimus explained. Bumblebee asked what he was talking about. "Even if we show this to the human authorities, sooner or later, they will come looking for her again. We need to relocate to make sure the human authorities don't get to her." Bumblebee asked where they were supposed to hide her. "We can stay at her grandmother's house for now until we find a safer place to hide her. With Agatha deceased, the authorities won't think to come knocking on her door looking for her."

Bumblebee seemed to think it was a good idea. Optimus then ordered him to get Sam ready to leave. Bumblebee led Sam upstairs and helped her get all her stuff together, shoving everything her could into her backpacks and boxes. By the time he had all her clothes and toys packed and ready to go, Optimus was waiting for them outside in his vehicle mode, having loaded everything else in his trailer. Bumblebee loaded up the rest of her things and fastened her inside his own vehicle mode and they both made the long drive back to Agatha Witwicky's house.

Bumblebee led Sam up to her room and helped her settle in while Optimus unloaded all the other stuff from her own house. By the time all was said and done, it was getting late and Sam was looking tired. Optimus said he would get her ready for bed and ordered Bumblebee to go out and patrol, make sure that no one, human or Decepticon followed them. As Bumblebee left, he caught a glimpse of Sam up in her room and thought to himself, 'Don't worry Sam, we're not going to let anything happen to you. I promise.' And with that he drove off down the street o patrol for the night.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Optimus watched as Bumblebee drove off and then immediately went upstairs to get Sam ready for bed.

"Sam, it's time to get ready for bed." He said opening her door as she was playing with her toys.

Sam got up and held his hand as he led her to the bathroom for her bath. Optimus was a little worried about she hadn't really said much all day even after possibly hearing that her parents were dead. But in his spark he hoped she hadn't. The last thing he wanted to do was explain to her why her parents weren't coming back. But at the same time, he was grateful she hadn't put up much a fight today about leaving her house to come here, or asked a lot of questions.

Once she was all cleaned up, he helped get in her pajamas and brush her teeth. As he helped her in bed, he wondered what he should do to help her fall asleep since it seemed she was still very much awake. When he asked her what she wanted him to do, she pointed to the bookshelf and got up. She reached up and grabbed a large fairytale book and handed it to Optimus as she crawled back into bed.

Optimus got the message and opened the book to the first story. As he read, he could see she was slowly falling asleep. As he finished the story, Sam was already asleep. As he got up to leave, he felt her reach out and take his hand.

"Good night Daddy." She mumbled in her sleep.

Optimus felt his spark break hearing her call him that. He knelt down by her bed and gently rubbed her head. "Good night Sam." He said softly.

As he left the room, he could still feel her tiny hand around his. Up until recently, Sam had been a priority, a mission. That was all she had been. But after learning that her parents had been killed by the Decepticons and seeing her as she was today, he couldn't think of her that way anymore. What he had told Bumblebee was very true. As of today, Sam was one of them. How he felt about had changed. She was going to need him and Bumblebee now more than ever, not just as her guardians, but as her family.

"No matter what happens to you Sam, I'll always be there to protect you." He told himself as he went down stairs to get everything else settled in.

By morning, all the stuff from Sam's house had been unloaded and settled around Agatha's house. Here would serve as a pretty good place for her to call home for now. Until they could be sure that the authorities wouldn't be looking for them. When Bumblebee returned, Optimus said he would be out on patrol and ordered Bumblebee to stay here and keep a close watch over the child.

As Optimus drove in and around the streets, keeping an eye out for any suspicious characters, he couldn't get what happened last night with Sam out of his mind. All that time he was getting her to bed, he had felt like a father to her would but he didn't believe it until feeling Sam hold his hand and call him her father. Even if she was asleep as she said it, it didn't make it any less of a shocker to him. Maybe he really was playing a father figure to her now and until she was ready to know the truth, that is what he would have to be.

(Nine years later)

Optimus sat in the school's parking lot waiting for Sam to come out. School had let out a few minutes ago and she hadn't left the building yet. He was about to activate his holoform to go in and find her when he finally saw her come out the front door. Sam pulled herself into his cab and strapped herself in.

"Hey Dad." She said as they pulled out of the parking lot.

"How did school got today?" he asked as they drove home.

"It went okay. I was just surprised to see you picking me up today. I thought Uncle Jazz would be coming by today." Sam answered.

"Uncle Jazz had somewhere else to be today." Optimus answered as they drove up their street.

"Well I'm glad you're back in town Dad. I always miss you when you go out on your trucking drives." Sam said as they drove on. "When exactly will I be allowed to come with you?" she asked looking at his holoform.

"Soon." He answered.

Nine years it had been since Optimus and his Autobots had taken Sam in as their own. So far the only ones she knew of were himself and Jazz. But even with as time had passed, she still didn't know the truth about them. And if Optimus was being honest, he hoped it would stay that way until they could find the All Spark and stop the Decepticons from destroying all life on Earth. As far as Sam was concerned, all that time he was away he out on business for a trucking company when in reality he was off on missions with his fellow Autobots, leaving either Jazz or Bumblebee to watch her. Bumblebee always kept watch over her from a distance even if Optimus or Jazz were there. But today, that was going to change.

"Now listen Sam, we have a surprise waiting for you at home." Optimus said as they drove down the street.

"What kind of surprise?" Sam asked sounding excited.

"You'll see." Optimus answered. "But first, you need to close your eyes." He instructed her as they pulled into the drive way.

Sam did as she was told and let Optimus lead her out of his cab. He saw Bumblebee sitting in the driveway waiting for them. Optimus nodded saying it was time.

"Okay, now you can open them." He said positioning Sam where she would see Bumblebee.

When she opened her eyes, she smiled so big and started to laugh. "Oh, no way, no way, no way! Are you serious?" she exclaimed running her hands down Bumblebee's hood.

"Yes, you're old enough to drive and I would say that you've had enough practice with myself and Uncle Jazz. All we have to do now is get your license." Optimus said feeling rather happy seeing Sam's reaction.

"Ha, Dad thank you so much!" Sam exclaimed wrapping her arms around his holoform in a hug.

Sam sat herself in the driver's seat and still seemed so excited about her first car, despite how old Bumblebee's model was. For the next several weeks, Optimus helped Sam prepare to get her license and most of the time helping her practice driving her new car. Mostly just around the block and back. Finally, Sam was a certified driver and she couldn't have been more happy about it.

For her first time driving, she told Optimus that she was going to the lake with her friend Miles. "I want you home at 11."

"Okay Dad." She said driving off.

Optimus trusted Bumblebee to take care of her and keep her safe. But after playing the father figure in her life all this time, even if Bumblebee was with her, he couldn't help but worry about her. He had never said it out loud, but he knew how he felt about her, he loved her and didn't want anything to happen to her.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Sam smiled and laughed all the way to Miles's place. When she picked him up he seemed pretty surprised at her new car.

"Pretty cool right?" she laughed as Miles climbed inside.

"Yeah man, this is so cool." He answered. "Where did you get this car?"

"My Dad surprised me with it." Sam answered as they started off again. "Ready to go to the lake?"

"Yeah." Miles answered.

As they drove on, Sam and Miles couldn't stop talking about how cool it was that she now had a car. When they pulled up to the lake, Miles pointed something else cool out to Sam.

"Dude look, Michael's here." Miles said probing Sam with his elbow.

"Miles, for the last time, I'm so over Michael."

"Come on, you've had a crush him,"

"When I was fifteen. Sure for a while I was into him, but I'm over it now. Besides he's with Trina now." Sam said as they pulled in and parked not far from where Michael and Trina were hanging out with their friends.

As Sam and Miles started for the lake, Trina and Michael caught up with them with their friends not far behind.

"Hey chick, that car, it's nice." Trina said laughing at Sam. "So what you two doing here?" she asked as Miles started to climb the tree next to them, his blue swim trunks bagging down his legs.

"We're here to climb this tree." Sam answered laying out her beach towel.

"I thought I recognized you, you tried out for the cheerleading squad last year right?"

"No, that wasn't my idea, my Uncle thought it would be a good way for me to meet new people and get out of the house." Sam lied trying to hide her embarrassment of how badly she had performed at the auditions.

"Oh, yeah?" Trina asked.

"Yeah." Sam answered.

"Well what's he having you do now, test as a crash dummy?" Trina jabbed.

Sam laughed as she peeled herself out her short denim skirt and cut short orange tee in her red bikini. "No he has me volunteering at a trauma center for cheerleaders." She jabbed back. "You should check it out. We give out these awesome little coloring books to the patients, it keeps them occupied."

"You think that's funny." Trina said advancing Sam, but Michael stopped her.

Trina looked at Sam with burning eyes but turned to leave with their friends. Sam sat down on her towel and relaxed by the water side.

"Wow girl, I can't believe you got away with that." Miles said jumping down from the tree.

"Just lucky I guess." Sam said letting the sun warm her skin.

"You know, Michael is totally the perfect guy for you." Miles said sitting down beside her.

"Miles, for the last time, let it go." Sam said feeling annoyed.

"Oh come on, I saw the way he was taking in that gorgeous body of yours, especially when he saw you in that bikini. He's totally into you."

"No Miles, he's not. And I'm not into him." Sam said trying to hide the blush that was creeping across her face.

"Then why are turning red?" Miles teased.

"Because you're making me feel seriously uncomfortable talking about this." Sam said getting up.

"You know you should go for it." Miles kept going.

"You know what, you can find another ride home." Sam said slipping her clothes back on and grabbing her towel. "I'm out of here." She said heading back to her car.

As she got in she noticed Michael walking down the street. She couldn't help but watch him and wonder if she should give him a ride. Suddenly her radio turned on.

" _Who's gonna drive ya' home tonight?"_ it played.

"I'm driving him home tonight." Sam answered subconsciously ignoring the fact that her radio had just turned itself on.

Quickly she got in the driver's seat and pulled up beside Michael. "Hey Michael, it's Sam Witwicky. So I was wondering if you like to ride me home, I mean, give you a ride home. In my car to your house?"

Michael didn't say anything as he got in. Sam drove on as Michael fastened his seatbelt. She could see that Michael was upset about something she just wasn't sure what.

"If you're not comfortable, you can duck down if you want. It won't hurt my feelings."

"No that's it, I just, I can't believe I feel for something like Trina again." Michael said making Sam feel a little better that someone as hot as Michael wasn't embarrassed to be seen with her. "I don't know what my problem is, I guess I've always just never been able to see beyond the beauty some girls have that's only skin deep, you know?" Michael explained.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Sam answered.

"Yeah, it's just that, I don't know I guess that's the first thing I notice about women. And then when I see what they really are, I guess I bring that punishment on myself."

"No, I don't think that's it at all." Sam answered. "Girls like Trina, they act one way to lure you in and then once they have you that's when they show you their true colors."

"I agree." Michael agreed. "So, tell me about you. Is this your first year here?"

"No, we've been in the same school since third grade." Sam answered. "Yeah, long time."

"Well, do we have any classes together?"

"Yeah, history, language arts, math, science,"

"Sam!"

"Yeah that's me."

"Sam, Wilkicky."

"Witwicky." Sam corrected.

"Oh God, you know I'm sorry." Michael said. "I just, I didn't recognize you."

"That's understandable." Sam answered.

"And it's also a bit of a shame because I think I would have remembered a pretty face like yours." Michael said making Sam's heart jump.

And then all at once her car started to act up. "I'm sorry, just working out the kinks. It's an old car you know." She said trying not to freak out.

And then her radio turned on again and her car just pulled over at an abandoned lover's lane.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what's wrong." Sam said trying to turn the car off. "Look I wouldn't try this on you. Not that you're not worthy to try something like this on. Romantic friends do this, I'm not that friend. I mean, I want to be friends, just not like romantic kind, I mean I could be if you…"

"Just pop the hood." Michael said climbing out.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up." Sam muttered trying to turn the radio off.

She opened the hood and let Michael take a look. "Wow nice headers." Michael said looking inside.

"Yeah, high rise double comparator."

"Wow, impressive."

"The engine or that I know what it is?" Sam asked.

"Both. It's just weird I wouldn't have pegged you for mechanical."

"Yeah, my dad and my uncle taught me a lot about this stuff. Thought it would help once I started driving and needed to make a few if any repairs."

"Sounds legit." Michael smiled. "Looks like your distributor cap's a little loose."

"I'll have to take care of that later." Sam noted. "How you know this stuff? Not that I'm surprised you do, I mean I try not to stereotype guys or anything, but usually you see guys being the ones into this kind of thing you know?" Sam blathered.

Michael laughed. "My dad taught all about this, I could take all of this apart, clean it and then put back together."

"That's pretty cool." Sam sighed.

"You want to fire it up for me?"

"Sure." Sam said getting in the driver's seat. "I was just wondering, if we can get this running again, maybe you and I maybe we could share some of what we know. Maybe we could get our dads together sometime too. Maybe see if they could teach both of us a few things."

Michael sighed. "You know what, I'm just gonna walk." He said grabbing his bag. "Good luck with your car."

"Yeah, okay. Walking's healthy right?" Sam said feeling her heart drop. Did she say something wrong? If so she had to apologize. "Come on, you gotta work for me now. Don't let him walk away, come on, come on, come on."

Suddenly her radio blared making her jump in her seat. " _Baby come back. Any kind of fool could see, there was something in everything about you. Baby come back. You can blame it all on me."_

She was able to get her car working and stop Michael before he got too far down the road. The rest of the ride home, Michael and Sam talked and stopped for food by the local burger joint down the road from Michael's. When they pulled up by Michael's Sam realized she still hadn't apologized for whatever she said to make Michael so upset.

"I had fun, so thanks for listening Sam." Michael said as he was about to get out.

"Yeah, so listen, about earlier, I'm sorry if I said or did anything that made you upset…"

"No, no, it's okay. It's not you, I just, I have a lot going on right now. But I really appreciate you bringing me home and for just listening you know. That's more than any girl I've ever been with has ever done for me."

"You're welcome." Sam answered relieved.

"You, you think I'm shallow?" Michael asked.

"No, no, I think there is a lot more than meets the eye with you." Sam stammered.

Michael laughed a little but smiled and thanked her for the ride home. As he walked up to his door, Sam started beating herself up for that.

"That was stupid, what was that, stupid is what that was." She whispered to herself. She saw Michael turn back and wave good bye as he went inside. "God, I love my car." She said as she put it in gear and drove home.

Later that night, as she got into bed, she looked one more time out into the driveway at her car, smiled as if saying good night and then went to bed. Not long after dozing off, she heard her car starting up. Her raced.

"Oh God, no, no, no, no, no, no!" she screamed racing for the window. "Hey, that's my car! Stop!" she yelled as it pulled out of the drive way.

Sam ran from the house out the back door and grabbed her bike. "Dad! Call the cop!" she yelled taking off after her car.

As she chased the thief down the street, she pulled out her phone. "Hello? 911 Emergency, my car's been stolen! I'm in pursuit! I need all units, the whole squadron! Bring everyone! No don't ask me questions alright. My father's the head of the neighborhood watch." She ranted into her phone.

She continued chasing her car until they came to a junk yard. She lost sight of her car inside but as she pulled behind a pile of scrap, she saw what looked like a giant robot with her car's coloring standing a distance away. She didn't know what to think except that this shouldn't be happening, but for some reason seeing it felt almost familiar. Like she had seen something like it before a long time ago. She watched as the giant robot shine a light into the sky and then disappeared.

She quickly pulled out her phone again and switched on her video camera. "My name is Samantha Witwicky. Whoever finds this, my car's alive. Since these are my last words on Earth, I just want to say, Dad, Uncle Jazz, I love you. You're the best family anyone could ask for. I love you." She said flipping her phone closed and then slowly and quietly trying to find her way out of the junk yard.

Out of nowhere, she heard dogs barking. When she turned around she saw two large dogs chasing her. She ran as fast as she could trying to keep away from the snapping jaws behind her. She climbed up onto two barrels and tried not to fall over. Suddenly her car appeared and scared the dogs off and circled around her.

"Please don't kill me, I'm sorry!" she yelled. "Take the keys I don't want them. Car's yours!" she yelled running out a door and into the street.

As she made it out the cops started pulling up. Unfortunately, they thought she was the bad guy.

"No, no, no it's not me the guy's inside." She said raising her hands with the guns pointed at her.

"Shut up!" the cop ordered. "Walk towards the car." She did as she was told.

She cuffed and dragged to the police station. All through the processing, she thought that her night couldn't possibly get any worse. By morning, her dad and Uncle Jazz were there to bail her out. As she was brought out, she knew a long talk was going to be coming for her little escapade last night. But for now, they assured the police that she wasn't a criminal and that she had only chased her car there, she wasn't breaking in to steal anything. Thankfully, the police seemed to buy her story and they let her go. As she climbed into her dad's truck she knew better than to try and talk to him right now.

"Care to tell me why you thought it was a good idea to chase your car into a junk yard?" he asked.

"I just wanted to get my car back, that's all. I just, I wasn't thinking straight." She answered staring out the window.

"I would say you weren't." her dad answered as they drove on home. "You're lucky this time. Next time, just leave it to the police. Got it?"

"Got it." Sam replied.

The next morning, she sat in her room listening to the news, bad news as usual. Finally she dressed in her jeans and favorite band t-shirt. And then headed down stairs for breakfast. As usual, her dad and uncle were out for the day. As she got into the fridge, she heard an engine roar to life outside. She felt her heart leap into her throat. She glanced outside and saw her car standing there in the front yard. She quickly grabbed the phone and hid in the front hall way.

"Miles, my car it stole itself." She panicked into the phone.

"What are you talking about man?" she heard Miles asked confused.

"Satan's Camaro in my yard, it's stalking me." She yelled. She then hung up, dropped the phone and ran out on her bike again.

She pedaled as fast as she could down the side walk with her car not far behind. "Leave me alone!" she screamed. She continued to pedal down the street until she hit a slab of overturned concrete and her bike catapulted her over and onto her back. And worse yet was who saw.

"Sam?" she heard Michael ask on her right.

"Hi." She grunted having the wind knocked out of her.

"Are you okay?" Michael asked concerned.

"No, I'm not okay. I'm afraid I'm losing my mind a little bit." She said getting up. "Getting chased by my car right now I gotta go." She said pedaling off.

She kept going until she came to a rundown parking garage. She was able to lose her car among all the other cars there. To her relief, she heard a squad car pulling up.

"Officer!" she said as she pedaled up to the cop.

Suddenly, the door swung open and knocked her to the ground for the second time that day. "Officer, thank God you're here! I've had the worst day ever! I've followed here on my bike, right? And my car's right there and it's been following me here! So, so, get out of the car." She said tapping on the hood.

But instead the car started to push her forward and knock her to the ground again. Sam started to freak out again as the car pulled closer and closer to her pushing her along the ground. But really made her freak out was seeing the car's headlights jet out at her as if they were eyeballing her.

"What do you want from me?" she screamed.

As if from a bad dream, the cop car transformed into the same kind of giant robot she had seen last night.

"Oh God! No! No!" she screamed getting up and making a run for it. "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap! Oh crap!" she screamed as she ran as fast as her legs would go.

The monster knocked her onto an old car parked not far away. "Oh this has to be a bad dream." She told herself.

The monster leaned in close to her pointing a giant gun at her. "Are you username Beachbabe217?" it demanded in a loud voice.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Sam freaked.

"Are you username Beachbabe217?" It demanded again.

"Yeah." Sam answered shaking.

"Where is the eBay item 21153? Where are the glasses?" it demanded.

Sam didn't even think to answer. She managed to slip out of its range and run for it again. As she neared the entrance, she saw Michael coming in.

"Get back!" she yelled trying to stop him. But he kept going, so she had to stop him by grabbing him as he passed by on his moped and they both crashed on the ground.

"What is your problem Sam?" Michael demanded.

"There's a monster right there that just attacked me…" she didn't have time to explain as she turned and saw it coming again. She tried to get Michael to run, but then out of nowhere her car came charging in and knocked the monster aside and then pulled up beside them and opened the door.

"You have to get in the car. Get in, trust me, trust me." She said pulling Michael in with her.

Her car took off quickly and drove down the streets crashing through old building and avoiding highways and freeways.

Sam and Michael continued the scream as the car continued to run around the more rural parts of town until it finally hid in a power plant after hours of chasing. The doors locked and the engine shut off. Sam and Michael sat in fear as they saw the cop car pull past them. The car then turned on and slipped past the cop car and then pulled to the side and just threw them out. Sam's car then transformed into the robot she had seen last night. The other one charged her car and then the two of them fought in all-out battle. As the fight carried on, a smaller metal monster took off after Sam and Michael. Michael made a good get away, but Sam was cornered by the little monster. Michael came back with an electric blade and managed to cut the thing loose from Sam.

"Not so tough without a head are you?" Sam said giving it a good kick. "Come on." She said taking Michael's hand.

They made their way back up the hill as her car, or robot met up with them again. "What is that?" Michael asked.

"It's a robot, but like a different you know like a seriously advanced robot." Sam answered. "It's probably Japanese, yeah, it's definitely Japanese." She said stepping closer.

"What are doing?" Michael said trying to stop her.

"I don't think it wants to hurt us, it would have done that already." Sam answered.

"Really, well do you speak robot because they had just like a giant droid death match." Michael whispered.

"I think it wants something from me."

"What?"

"Because the other one was talking about my eBay page." Sam answered. "Can you talk?" she asked.

" _XM Satellite Radio, Digital Cable, Columbian Broadcasting System."_ Came the radioed replie.

"So you, you talk through the radio?"

" _Thank you, you're beautiful, yeah, you're wonderful, you're wonderful_."

"So what was that last night? What was that?"

" _Message from Star Fleet Captain… throughout the unanimous vastness of space… rain down like visitors from Heaven, halleluiah_."

"So what are you, like an alien or something?" Michael asked.

The robot nodded and transformed back into her car opening the door. " _Anymore questions you want to ask?_ "

"He wants us to get in."

"And go where?" Michael asked.

"Fifty years from now when you're looking back at your life don't want to be able to say you had the guts to get in the car?" Sam asked as she climbed in. She sat in between the driver and passenger seat.

Michael climbed in after her in the passenger seat. The car then drove off for God only knew where. As they drove, Sam was starting to feel a little nervous, but this car had already saved her and Michael, so maybe she could trust it.

"This car's a pretty good driver." Michael said.

"Yeah, he is." Sam answered.

"Why don't you go sit in that seat there?"

"I'm not gonna sit in that seat, he's driving." Sam answered.

"Well then maybe you should sit in my lap." Michael offered.

"Why?"

"Well, I have the only seatbelt here." Michael answered. "You know, safety first."

"Yeah, you're right." Sam admitted and she climbed into Michael's lap as she helped strap the belt over them. "You know that seatbelt thing was a pretty smooth move." She smiled.

"Thanks." Michael laughed. "You know what I don't understand?"

"What?"

"Why, if he's supposed to be this super advanced robot, does he transform back into this piece of crap camaro?" Michael asked as quietly as he could.

Suddenly, the car screeched to a halt and opened the door to let them out. Sam and Michael stood by the side of the road, Sam fuming at Michael. But as quickly as he had drove off, he came driving back, new and improved in his new form. A shiny new, 2007 Camaro.

Sam and Michael climbed in and the car took off again, stopping by an alley way. As they got out, all around them, more cars appeared. Including two that Sam recognized, her dad's truck and her uncle's car. As her dad's truck pulled up in front of them, it suddenly transformed into a giant robot too which made Sam's mind reel in so much surprise, she wasn't sure how much more of this she could take. But she had to reason with herself, if her car could scan a new form, maybe this one had scanned her dad's truck, but even she could tell that was kind of stretching it. Details later.

Right now, she was more concerned with the giant face meeting hers. "Are you Samantha Jane Witwicky, decedent of Agatha Witwicky?" he asked more calm than the last one did.

"Yeah." Sam answered feeling just as nervous as before.

"My name is Optimus Prime." He said to her. "We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron."

"But you can call us Autobots for short." One of the other ones added in.

"What crackin' little bitches?" the short silver one asked.

"My first lieutenant, Designation Jazz." Optimus introduced.

Sam knew that this was turning out to be way too much to a coincidence, first the truck just like her dad's and someone with the same name as her uncle.

"This looks like a cool place to kick it." Jazz said sitting on abandoned car behind him.

"How did he learn to talk like that?" Sam asked trying not to think about what she was thinking.

"We've learned Earth's languages through the world wide web." Optimus answered. "My weapon specialist, Ironhide." He said pointing to a larger black one behind them.

"You feelin' lucky, punk?" Ironhide asked pointing his guns at her.

"Easy Ironhide."

"Just kidding, I just wanted to show her my cannons."

"Our medical officer, Ratchet."

"Hmm, the boy's pheromone level suggests he wants to mate with the female." Ratchet said making Sam feel incredibly uncomfortable.

'Great, now giant alien robots are going at it.' She thought trying to hide her embarrassment.

"You already know your guardian, Bumblebee." Optimus said turning to her car.

"Bumblebee, you're my guardian huh?" she said turning to him feeling a little easier knowing that and suddenly a lot of what had happened made sense.

"His vocal processors were damaged in battle. I'm still working on them." Ratchet answered.

"Why are you here?" Michael asked.

"We are here looking for the All Spark, and we must find it before Megatron." Optimus answered. "Our planet was once a powerful empire, peaceful and just. Until we were betrayed by Megatron, leader of the Decepticons. All who defied them were destroyed, and the cube was lost to the far reaches of space. Megatron followed it to Earth where Captain Witwicky found him."

"My grandmother?" Sam asked.

"It was an accident, that intertwined our fates. Megatron crash landed before he could retrieve the cube. Agatha accidently activated his navigation system. The coordinates to the cubes location on Earth were imprinted on her glasses."

"How did you know about her glasses?" Sam asked.

"eBay." Optimus answered.

"If the Decepticons find the All Spark, they will use its power to transform Earth's machines and build a new army." Ratchet explained.

"And the human race will be extinguished. Sam Witwicky, you hold the key to Earth's survival." Optimus finished.

"Please tell me that you have those glasses." Michael said turning to her.

"Yeah, I do." Sam answered. "But they're at home."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

As they drove home, Optimus was a little worried about revealing themselves to Sam, but if the Decepticons were again looking for the All Spark and knew Sam was the key to finding it, then they couldn't hide from her anymore. The only question now was, how was he going to tell her that he and Jazz were the one who raised her all this time? When they pulled up to the house, Sam asked them all to stay hidden.

"Listen, you have to be quiet and stay hidden, my dad or my uncle come out here and see you, then I can promise you this, it will not be pretty." Sam said as she went into her house.

"Autobots recon." Optimus ordered.

He watched as Sam made her way up to her room and start tearing it up looking for the glasses. Michael asked for him to lift him to her room. As the two of them searched, he became more and more anxious the longer it was taking them to find the glasses. Listening in, he had to know.

"Sam calm down, think, where they the last time you had them?" Michael asked Sam who was freaking out.

"Okay, okay, the glasses were in my bag, they were in the backpack and…"

"And what did you do with your backpack?"

"Okay, I got up, I was getting ready to go to school so I brought down to… The kitchen." Sam finally figured out. "We are just seriously lucky my dad and my uncle aren't home yet other were would be in some serious crap right now." She said as she ran down stairs to the kitchen.

Suddenly the doorbell rang. "Alright, you distract who ever that is so I can slip out and give them these glasses." Sam said turning to Michael.

Optimus ordered the other Autobots to fall back as more humans appeared around the house. Jazz led the others down the alley but he stayed in the driveway. Activating his holoform, he went in through the garage.

"What is going on here?" he asked acting confused.

"Are you Mr. Pax?" One of the humans asked flashing him a badge.

"Yes, what's this all about?"

"Your daughter filed a stolen car report last night, we think it's involved in a national security matter."

Optimus prayed that Sam wouldn't come back in but she did. "What's going on?" she asked seeing all the guys in suits running around her house.

"How you do miss? Your name Sam?" the human asked turning to her.

"Yeah."

"Well listen I'm gonna need you to come with us."

Optimus stepped between her and the human. "You are not taking my daughter."

"Sir I am asking politely back off."

"You are out of line. My daughter is not going anywhere with you." Optimus said pushing Sam and Michael behind him.

"You gonna get rough with us?" the human teased.

"I will if I have to." Optimus warned.

Another human gave a device to the human in front of him. "Sam, step forward please."

Sam took two steps in front of him. "Just stand here?"

The radar device started to beep rapidly. Whatever they were looking for, they found it. The next thing any of them knew, they were being cuffed and dragged out of their house. Once they had him a good distance away, Optimus deactivated his holoform and ordered the other Autobots to follow those humans. When they caught up with them, Optimus grabbed the car carrying Sam and Michael and tore the roof off.

"You a-holes are in trouble now." Sam said looking up at him. "Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you to my friend, Optimus Prime."

The other humans did look pretty startled, which was good, they should be. "Taking the children was a bad move." Optimus warned them. "Autobots, relieve them of their weapons."

"Give me those." Jazz said pulling their weapons out of their hands.

Optimus leaned down to face the humans that had taken his daughter and her friend. "You don't seem afraid. Are you not surprised to see us?"

"Look, there are S-Seven protocols. Okay? I'm not authorize to communicate with you except to tell you I can't communicate with you." The human form earlier answered.

"Get out of the car." Optimus ordered them.

Michael undid his and Sam's hadncuffs and the both of them confronted the humans. "What is Sector Seven? Answer me." Sam demanded.

"I'm the one who askes the questions around here, not you young lady!"

"How did you know about the aliens?" Michael asked.

"Where did you take my Dad?" Sam demanded. "Where is Sector Seven?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." The human leader snapped.

Bumblebee popped his oil tank and drained it on the man. "Bumblebee stop lubricating the man."

Bumblebee did as he was told, but with a 'hey, he had it coming' shrug. Sam and Michael then handcuffed the humans together and then cuffed them to the pole. But not even a moment later, several other cars started heading their way. Ironhide blew out their tires and bought them enough time for the other Autobots to roll out. Optimus remained behind to get the children to safety. Lifting them onto his shoulder, he then took off running down the road trying to stay out of sight.

At last he found a bridge over the canal and hide among the rafters. Thankfully, the ones hunting them passed by, but they were not out of the woods yet. He could feel the kids slipping off his shoulder. He just prayed they would be able to hold just a little longer. Unfortunately, Michael couldn't. As he fell, Sam slipped trying to catch him. Eventually, Sam lost her grip too and the both off them started to fall. Optimus tried to catch them but missed. Thankfully, Bumblebee arrived and caught them just before they could hit the ground.

Not even a moment later, the humans were surrounding them and brought Bumblebee down. Optimus could only watch as Sam, Michael and Bumblebee were apprehended. But what caught his attention was Sam. She pleaded for them to let Bumblebee go, to stop hurting him. At one point, she broke away from the officers and tried to save him, but she was grabbed and dragged to one of the cars waiting for her. As much as it hurt to see them carry his daughter and her guardian away, there was no way he could free them without harming the humans and he told Jazz as much. But at least it wasn't a total loss. Once the humans were gone, Optimus was able to grab the glasses that Sam had dropped when Bumblebee saved her. Having gotten what they were looking for, Optimus led his fellow Autobots to a more remote location so they could safely get the coordinates from the glasses.

"Please, let this work." He pleaded. "The code, the code on these glasses indicates the All Spark is 230 miles from here."

"I sense the Decepticons are getting ready to moblize." Ratchet said adding to everyone's uneasiness.

"They must know it's here as well." Ironhide answered.

"What about Bumblebee?" Jazz asked. "We can't just leave him to die and become some human experiment."

"He'll die in vain if we don't accomplish our mission." Optimus answered. "Bumblebee is a brave solider, this is what he would want."

"Why are we fighting to save the humans?" Ratchet asked. "They're a primitive and violent race."

"Were we so different?" Optimus answered turning to Jazz remembering all the time they had spent observing humans from raising Sam. "They're a young species, they have much to learn. But I've seen goodness in them. Freedom is the right of all sentient beings. You all know there's only one way to end this war, we must destroy the cube. If all else fails, I will unite it with the spark in my chest."

"No that's suicide." Ratchet interjected. "The cube is raw power it could destroy you both."

"A necessary sacrifice to bring peace to this planet. We cannot let the humans pay for our mistakes." Optimus answered. "It's been an honor serving with you all. Autobots, roll out."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Sam rode in silence in the helicopter. She couldn't stop thinking about Bee, was he okay? What were they doing to him? Would she ever see him again? She was worried about him. All he did was try to protect her and all that time she had run from him and thought he was a monster. She owed a huge apology and maybe more than that. She didn't want to lose him.

"So, what'd they get you for?" The lady sitting in front of her asked through the head set.

"My dad gave me a car, turned out to be an alien robot." Sam answered. "Who knew?" That was the best and shortest way Sam could put it.

At last they landed and they were escorted toward another building. Sam came face to face with the guy from earlier.

"Hey kid." He said as if he was expecting them to be friends or something. "I think we got off to a bad start." He said putting his hand on her shoulder. "You want a latté, double vat tie mochiaono."

"Where's my car?" Sam demanded. Although if she was being honest, after everything she had learned and seeing everything that Bee had done for her, she wasn't sure if she could call him her car anymore. But for now, it was all she could think of.

"Ma'am, listen me, people can die here. We need to know everything you know and we need to know it now." Another gentleman asked as he approached.

"Okay." Sam agreed. "But first I'll take my car, my dad. Maybe you should write that down. And his juvie record, that's got to be gone, like forever." She demanded.

"Come with me, we'll talk about your car." The other guy said leading her and Michael toward the door.

"Thank you." Michael whispered to her.

"What are friends for?" Sam smiled back.

As they made their way in, they met up with a few soldiers. "Okay here's the situation, you've all had direct contact with NBE's." The guy Sam learned his names was Simmons.

"NBE's?" one of the soldiers asked.

"Non-Biological Extraterresials, try and keep up with the acronyms." Simmons answered.

"What you're about to be see is totally classified." The other guy Banachek said as they entered a huge room almost like a basement.

"What is this?" Sec. Def. Keller asked in shock.

"We think when he made his way over the north pole our gravitational field screwed up his telemetry." Banachek explained. "He crashed in the ice, probably a few thousand years ago. We shipped him here to this facility in 1935."

"We call him NBE-1." Simmons finished.

"I don't mean to correct you on everything you think you know, but that's Megatron." Sam spoke up seeing the Decepticon leader for the first time, but he didn't need to have a nametag for her to know who he was. "He's the leader of the Decepticons."

"He's been cry-stasis since 1935." Banachek said turning to her. "Your great great-grandmother made one of the greatest discoveries in the history of man kind."

Sam wasn't sure if she should be flattered. "Fact is you're looking at the source of the modern age. Microchips, lasers, space flight, cars, all reverse engineered by studying him" Simmons explained. "NBE-1, that's what we call him."

"So why Earth?" another soldier asked.

"It's the All Spark." Sam answered.

"All Spark? What is that?" Keller asked.

"Yeah, they came here looking for some kind of cube looking thing." Sam answered. "Anyway, Mr. NBE-1 over here, a.k.a Megatron," Sam sassed turning to Simmons. "that's what they call him, is pretty much the harbinger of death. He wants to use the cube, to transform earth technology and take over the universe. That's their plan."

"And you're sure about that?" Banachek asked.

"Yes." Sam answered. "You guys know where it is don't you?" she said getting the feeling they were hiding something.

Without another word, Banachek and Simmons led them to another chamber. "You're about to see our crown jewel."

Behind a window, Sam saw the cube and she had to admit, it was a lot bigger than she thought it would be. Not that it should come as a surprise to her. Giant alien life forms, even bigger source of life, would make sense.

"Carbon dating puts the cube here around ten thousand B.C. The First Seven, didn't discover it until 1918." Banachek explained. "They knew it was alien because of the matching hieroglyphic on the cube as well as NBE-1. Pres. Hoover had the dam built around the cube. Four football fields of concrete, a perfect way to keep its energy from being detected by anyone or any alien species on the outside."

"Wait you said the dam hides the cube's energy." The lady from earlier cut in. "What kind exactly?" she asked.

"Good question." Banachek said leading them to another room. "Please step inside, they have to lock us in." he said as the door was closed.

"Anybody have any mechanical devices? Blackberry, key alarm, cell phone?" Simmons asked.

One of the guys with them a phone. He opened the phone and placed into the box in the center of the room. Then they were all handed a pair of goggles.

"We're able to take the cube radiation and funnel it into that box." Simmons said turning on the machine.

In a flash, the phone suddenly transformed into a little mechanical monster. It chattered and started shooting a little gun that popped out from its chest plate. It then started ramming the box cracking the glass. In another flash, the thing died. Suddenly the room started to shake.

"Gentlemen, they know the cube is here." Keller said.

Banachek checked what was going on but it wasn't good. Everyone headed for the arms room. Sam knew they had to get the cube out of there. They needed Bumblebee.

"You've got to take me to my car." She said turning to Simmons. "You have to take me to my car, he's gonna know what to do with the cube."

"Your car? It's confiscated." Simmons answered.

"Well unconfiscate him."

"We don't know what will happen if we let it near this thing." Simmons argued. "Well maybe you know, but I don't know."

"You just want to wait here and see what happens?" Sam argued back.

"No, I have people's lives at stack here young lady." Simmons yelled at her.

One of the soldier grabbed him. "Take her to the car." One by one guns went up.

"Drop your weapon soldier." Simmons ordered. "There's an alien war going on and you're gonna shoot me?"

"We didn't ask to be here." He answered.

"I'm ordering you under S-7 jurisdiction." Simmons tried to order.

"S-7 don't exist." Another soldier answered.

"Right we don't take orders from people that don't exist."

"I'm gonna count to 5."

"Well I'm gonna count to 3." He warned pointing the gun at his chest.

"Simmons," Keller spoke up. "I'd do what he says. Losing is really not an option for these guys." He warned.

"Okay hey, you lay the fate of the world on the kid's Camaro, that's cool." Simmons said giving in.

He led Sam and the others to the room where they were holding Bumblebee. They got everyone to stop hurting him and Sam stepped forward to talk to him. But he did not seem ready to trust anybody yet, lowering his mask and then pulling out his cannon.

"Bee, listen to me, the cube here and the Decepticons are coming." Sam tried to explain to him. "Come on, we'll take you to the All Spark."

They led Bumblebee to the room where they were holding the All Spark and Bee stepped up to it. Little by little, the cube started to shrink down to a size that they could carry. Once that was taken care of, everyone agreed to make a stand in Mission city 22 miles away from where they were now. Everyone started running for their positions. Sam and Michael climbed into Bumblebee and he took off following the soldiers.

The whole drive there, Sam kept checking to make sure the All Spark was still there. Along the way, the met up with Optimus and the other Autobots. As they started to approach the city, Sam noticed they were being followed.

"Oh no."

"What?" Michael asked.

"It's the same cop." Sam answered seeing the cop car from before.

Thankfully, the other Autobots blocked him and bought them time to get out. When they arrived in Mission city, they saw a fighter jet and popped green smoke. But something was wrong.

"It's Starscream!" Ironhide yelled.

He and Bumblebee set up a block to shield everyone from his missiles. The blast threw everyone back a good ways and left them all dazed but otherwise alive. But Sam's heart dropped when she saw Bumblebee.

"Bee, oh my God, your legs!" she breathed seeing that his legs had been blown off. "Come on Bee, you gotta get up, Bumblebee, get up." She pleaded. "Ratchet!" she called out.

Suddenly Starscream started to make a turn back around and then as if that wasn't bad enough, a tank joined the fight. Sam took cover close to Bee. Bee looked at her like he was pleading with her to run. But Sam wasn't going anywhere.

"I'm not going to leave you." Sam answered.

Bumblebee then handed her the cube. She understood, she had to keep the All Spark safe. But she still couldn't bring herself to leave Bee like this. Out of nowhere Michael drove in on a tow truck and the two of them se to work hooking Bumblebee up so Michael could him out of there. As they worked on that, Lennox, the solider that helped Sam get Bumblebee free, came by and handed Sam a flare.

"Alright there's a tall white building with statues on top, go to the roof, set the flare." He instructed her but Sam didn't think she could do it. "Listen to me, you're a soldier now. I need to take this cube, get it into military hands while we hold them off or a lot of people are going to die." He told her.

"Sam, we will protect you." Ironhide said turning to her.

Just as she was about to take off, Michael called her. "No matter what happens, I'm really glad I got in that car with you." He said giving her a hug.

Sam nodded and then started to run for the building that Lennox had told her about. Guns, cannons and explosions went off all around her as she ran. Dodging other people, cars zooming in and around her, but she kept going. She felt her heart almost stop as she heard Megatron calling for her but she didn't stop. She kept running. At last she made it to the building and ran up the stairs.

"I smell you girl!" she heard Megatron shout from the inside.

Sam kept running for the roof, she had to keep going. She was scared, but she was doing, she was doing for her family, her friends and her planet. At last she made it to the roof and popped the flare. The chopper arrived but it was too late. As she tried to hand them the cube, Starscream blew the tail router on the chopper. Sam ducked out of the way as the shrapnel flew all around her. Not even a second later, Megatron burst out of the roof beneath her feet. In a moment of perhaps really poor judgement, Sam tried to hide on one of the statues on the edge of the roof.

"Is it fear or courage that compels you, fleshling?" Megatron asked her. "Give me the All Spark and you may live to be my pet." He offered her.

Sam could feel her heart hammering as she gripped the All Spark closer to her. "I'm never giving you this All Spark!" she declared.

"Oh, so unwise." Megatron growled.

Sam braced herself as Megatron demolished the balcony beside her and she started to fall. Just as she thought she done for, she felt someone catch her.

"I've got you girl." She turned her head and saw Optimus.

"Hold on to the cube." He said as he started to drop from the building keeping his hand over her.

When at last they stopped falling, Optimus took his hand off her. She was a little shaken, and dazed but otherwise alright.

"Sam." Optimus spoke to her. "You risked your life to protect the cube?" he asked her.

"No sacrifice, no victory." Sam answered quoting her great great-grandmother.

"If I cannot defeat Megatron, you must push the cube into my chest." He instructed her. "I will sacrifice myself to destroy it. Get behind me."

Sam did as she was told but she was hoping that Optimus's plan didn't have to come into motion. She had come too close to losing so many close to her, she couldn't bear the thought of killing someone she had come to see as a friend. She watched Optimus fought as hard as he could against the Decepticon leader. It looked like Meagtron was about to get the upper hand, but thank God the Air Force arrived and crippled Megatron. Sam tried to get to Optimus, but she was knocked off her feet again and again. She stumbled under Megatron trying to get to Optimus.

"Sam! Put the cube in my chest, now!" he ordered.

Sam had a plan of her own now. She wasn't going to kill Optimus, the Autobots needed him, he was their leader. She rushed toward Megatron's chest.

"No Sam!" Optimus called to her.

She pushed the All Spark into Megatron's chest destroying it and killing him. She dodged out of the way as Megatron finally fell and died. Optimus got and looked down at the dying Decepticon leader.

"You left me no choice brother." Optimus said as the light flickered out of Megatron's eyes. Optimus then looked down at Sam. "Sam, I owe you my life. We are in your debt."

One by one, the other Autobots met up with them. All of them, except Jazz who sadly been killed by Megatron in battle. But Sam's sadness was turned to relief when she saw Michael pull up with Bumblebee still missing his legs, but otherwise, he was okay.

"Permission to speak sir." Bumblebee spoke up for the first time in a long time.

"Permission granted, old friend." Optimus answered.

"I wish to stay with the girl." Bee asked.

"If that is her choice." Optimus answered.

Sam turned to Bumblebee and smiled nodding. "Yes." She said feeling her eyes getting wet with tears. Sam turned to Michael, hugged him and thanked him for helping Bumblebee.

"What are friends for?" Michael answered.

As it started to get dark, Sam and Michael were taken home. Sam said good night to Michael and ran inside hoping to see her Dad somewhere inside. She ran all throughout the house calling for him. Finally, she heard the door to the garage open and ran out to meet him. She opened the door and saw him standing out by his truck. She ran to him and threw her arms around him.

"Dad!" she cried out feeling her tears falling. "I'm so glad you're okay." She said hugging him.

"As am I for you." He answered returning her hug. "Sam there's something you need to know."

"What is it?" Sam asked not sure what to expect at this point after everything she had gone through in the past couple of days.

"Sam, you remember how your uncle and I told you came to us."

"Yes, after my birth parents died in that car accident when I was a kid." Sam answered.

"Well, there is actually a lot more to that story than we told you."

"Well, shouldn't Uncle Jazz be here if you're going to tell me this. Cause this kind of feels like a 'we all need to be in on this' kind of deal."

"Sam, that is precisely why I need to tell you this." Her dad answered putting his hand on her shoulder. "Sam, your uncle and I, we never knew your parents, not personally. And it wasn't a car crash that killed them. It was the Decepticons."

"Whoa, whoa, back up." Sam back pedaled. "How do you know about the Decepticons?" she asked feeling really nervous right now.

She watched as her Dad sighed and then as if out of a bad dream, she watched as he dissolved and then his truck transformed into Optimus Prime. Sam felt her head spin and her legs grow weak. She wasn't sure what to think right now.

"Sam, I know that this is hard for you to accept, but please, listen." Optimus said stooping low enough to look her in the eye. "We never meant for you or your parents to get involved. But the moment Agatha Witwicky found Megatron, your family became a subject of interest to the Decepticons. We kept a close watch on your family over the years. Unfortunately, they got too close to your family and when they saw a chance to get close enough to find out where the All Spark was, they took it.

"And that chance came the night they killed your mother and father. Bumblebee tried as hard as he could to save your father, but it was too. By the time he made it to save you and your mother, your mother was already gone. He was able to save you and get you to safety and then he contacted and me and told me what happened. We couldn't turn you over to the human authorities, we couldn't risk the humans becoming anymore involved than they already were. So we made the decision to look after you and raise you ourselves."

"So then, all this time, you and Jazz were, oh God no." Sam said realizing that her uncle being an Autobot was never coming back, just like her parents.

"Sam,"

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised." Sam said wiping her eyes. "I mean that first night I saw you all, I guess I knew what and who you were, I guess I just didn't want to believe it."

"I understand if you wish me to,"

"No, please, stay." Sam said stopping him from leaving. "I don't want to lose my family again."

Optimus smiled and leaned down to face her again. "We're not going anywhere." Optimus answered.

He transformed and let Sam hug his holoform again before she went inside to go to bed. As Sam got ready to go to sleep, she still couldn't wrap her head around the fact that her Dad all this time had been Optimus Prime, or that her uncle was gone forever. Sam was snapped from her thoughts when her phone went off. When she looked at the number she wasn't sure who it was but she felt more secure when she heard Lennox's voice on the other line telling her that Ratchet had been able to fix Bumblebee's legs and that he would be back home as soon as tomorrow. Sam felt a lot better knowing that he would be coming home.

"Tell him I said I look forward to seeing him." Sam said as she hung up.

Sam finally crawled into bed and tried her best to go to sleep, but after everything that had happened, she wasn't sure she was going to have the easiest time falling asleep.


End file.
